Top MMA News Gets It On With Elaine McCarthy

Elaine McCarthy has been involved in many aspects of MMA. While she has never fought, the wife of referee Big John McCarthy was the event coordinator for the early UFCs, runs a large gym in California, and operates the COMMAND course for MMA officials. Her latest challenge in mixed martial arts? An exciting new MMA promotion called Let’s Get It On MMA featuring Canadian fighters competing in a tournament for $25,000.

Let’s Get It On (LGIO) will hold Welterweight and Lightweight tournaments for Canadian fighters across nine shows in Edmonton and Gatineau this year. The first show will be held this Friday, April 23 at River Cree Resort and Casino just outside of Edmonton. Why would an American businesswoman who has been successful with MMA in the United States want to launch a new promotion in Canada? McCarthy explains,

“I love Canada. I have met lots of great people in Canada and have lots of great contacts there. Its a beautiful country with fans that love fights. They love hockey but the second biggest sport in Canada is fighting. Canadians love MMA events. These tournaments would get lost in the United States but Canada will love it.”

These two tournaments feature a lot of up-and-coming fighters. However, many of these athletes are relatively unknown to the average Canadian – a fact that is fine with the Let’s Get It On President.

“We were not looking to fill the tournament with the top ten in Canada. We are looking to build fighters and get some of these great athletes some recognition! We actually had to go out and sign some top fighters to fill these rosters, but next year fans will see more unknown guys that are waiting to be discovered. By our second season, I expect that a lot of fighters will be coming to us to fight on these shows.”

With $25,000 going to the winner of each division as well as a spot on Strikeforce, there is no doubt that fighters are finding LGIO very attractive. However, to get that prize, fighters will have to win four bouts against very tough competition. The current lineup for the April 23 show has very difficult matchups including Victor Bachmann vs Jordan Mein, Jaret Evans vs Jose Rodriguez, and Andrew Buckland vs Ryan McGillivray. A question that has often come up is how LGIO matches up their fighters. Elaine McCarthy details how styles are the key to LGIO matchmaking,

“You know, our matchmaker (Matt Stansell) and I have this conversation all the time. How do you match the right guys at the right time? It all comes down to styles and we all know styles make matches. The two strongest fighters don’t always make for the most entertaining fights. There will ALWAYS be someone who says ‘wow that’s a great match’ or ‘that guy is gonna get killed, I have no desire to see that fight’. When Tito first fought Randy Couture, people thought Randy was gonna get beat up. Well the chants of ‘Tito, Tito’ by the fifth round turned into ‘Randy, Randy’. That’s what makes this sport so great. We can have all the opinions and background information on the fighters going into the fight but until the fight unfolds, you never know. That’s what makes our tournament concept so great. Bottom line is this, judge for yourself. Watch the tournament unfold, you will see how amazing Let’s Get It On fights really are.”

This Friday, April 23, fans will be able to watch the western Welterweights fight in the first round of the tournament in Edmonton. This event will also feature a main event between Jason MacDonald, Top MMA News #1 Canadian Middleweight, and Matt Horwich. The fights can be seen in person at River Cree or through the “Go Fight Live” online service. The fights will also be re-packaged for television broadcast on CHCH the following Friday night.

Top MMA News has always been a big supporter of Canadian MMA and we encourage Canadians to go out and support this unique Canadian tournament!